What if watercolor paper deforms and makes paint flow difficult to control? Well, stretching your paper is the common solution. Read this quick guide to learn some easy tricks!
Certainly,watercolor paper is not enough to avoid this problem,because even watercolor paper expands when it becomes wet. This especially happens if you add a lot of wet watercolor washes or pre-wet the paper for a wet on wet technique.
Follow this simple steps to avoid wrinkling effects:
- Soaking
- You begin by wetting the paper. Soak it with a spray bottle, sponge, or large brush.
- Place your paper on a clean board, soak it, then turn the paper over and soak again.
- Repeat the process until the paper is fully soaked.
2. Stretching
- Fasten the soaked sheet to a smooth flat rigid surface.
- Leave room for taping the paper to the board.
- Fasten the paper down to the board or frame with masking tape or with binder clips.
- Try to leave the paper in a warm dry place to dry overnight or if you are in a hurry leave it some minutes.
Whichever method you choose to stretch your paper, the basic approach is the same: first you soak the paper, then you stretch it.–The ATSSI team